Scandinavian Heartstrings, in Drop D.

Chapter 8.0 Trapped

"Do it better, Toki. Take ninety-six." Nathan said as the rhythm guitarist stood obediently in the isolation booth. He took a deep breath and tried again only to make the same mistake he had made on the last twenty takes.

"Ins de fuckings name of Ohdin! Does I have to comes in dere and dos it for you!" Skwisgaar screamed into the talk-back microphone.

Toki looked down just so he didn't have to look at his band mates, especially Skwisgaar. Since the incident, he had managed to keep his eye contact with him to an absolute minimum which usually only incited more screaming as Skwisgaar countered the lack of attention.

"Feckin' calm down! Yer not helpin'!" Pickles had been trying to maintain some level of civility between the two guitarists but his own patience had been worn down thinner than his hair.

"How about we all just take five on the screaming?" Dick Knubbler said, attempting to put a lid on the simmering pot that had been the recording studio for the last week.

"We amn'st gots time for dis! Just lets me fucking dos it!"

"Back off you damn asschole! You're not the only guitarist in thisch band!" Murderface jumped at any chance he could to take a swipe at the other band members after their rejection of 'Takin' it easy'.

"Ja? Well maybes I shoulds be."

"Don't schtart that schit again!"

"Toki? Babe?" Knubbler spoke into the talk-back mic, "Just run through that bit on your own a few times and then we'll roll when you're ready, okay?" He turned off the microphone and sighed; they had been doing this for almost three and a half hours.

Skwisgaar folded his arms, turned his back to the isolation booth and leaned on the lip of the sound board. The guilty memory of the last time he stood in this exact spot pricked at his consciousness and he shook his head in an effort to physically dislodge it from his brain.

"Why do you have to be schuch an asschole to him all the time!? Don't schake your fucking head at me!" Murderface began ranting, Skwisgaar looked up at him with an exhausted expression. "He'sch a fucking good guitarischt!" Skwisgaar scoffed and Murderface went red with anger. After finding Toki in his room, all cut up and fucked-up, he had no patience for Skwisgaar's bullying of him. "You juscht think you're the fuckin' KING, don't you?! King of the Guitar!"

"God." Skwisgaar said.

"What wasch that?!"

"God of de Guitar. Gets it right."

Murderface was so angry he went silent, which was rare, so this left a space in the heated word fray for Pickles.

"Will you two feckin' knock it off! Jus' let Toki do his bit." He said. "It don't matter if it takes all day 'cause we only got this an' Nathan's final run through fer 'Burning Black Piss' an' we're done!"

Murderface grunted some form of aggravated appreciation at the drummer.

Knubbler sighed again and turned the talk-back mic on again. "Toki? You ready to go on this one?" He said, just to keep things moving. Toki nodded weakly. "Okay, go! Rolling!" Toki went through and made the same mistake again. Skwisgaar rubbed his eyes and rumbled a few frustrated Swedish curses under his breath, which made Nathan glare a reminder at him that the Snow Speak ban in the studio was still very much in effect.

"Dat ams it." Skwisgaar said and began walking to the door of the isolation booth.

"Dood, jus' let him do it!" Pickles called after him.

"Yeah! You damn control freak!" Murderface added.

"I'm with Skwisgaar on this one." Knubbler said and everyone looked at him. "What with post-production and other work we need to do, we just really don't have time anymore."